Parents react to Marshfield redistricting plan

Parents are having mixed reactions to the selection of option D for Marshfield elementary school redistricting. Under the plan, 178 students will move between schools and Daniel Webster is the only school that sees no change.

Parents are having mixed reactions to the selection of option D for Marshfield elementary school redistricting.

The School Committee voted 3-2 on Feb. 25 to approve option D, which moves 178 students between schools. Daniel Webster Elementary School is the only school that sees no change under the plan.

Option D moves 79 students from South River to Governor Winslow, 56 students from South River to Martinson, and 43 students from Eames Way to South River.

Of the four options originally on the table, only options C and D were seriously being considered in the final vote. Option C moved the least number of students of all the plans, 103, and did not move students from Eames Way as well as Daniel Webster.

“It was the outcome that I felt was in the best interest of the district but still, there’s no joy in having made a decision that is going to impact students and families moving from schools that they love,” Morrison said following the vote.

Governor Winslow parent Jenny Coyle said she and her husband Bill were pleased by the final outcome.

“We are extremely pleased with the outcome and grateful to be able to stay in our current elementary school.”

The Coyles were part of a group of Governor Winslow and Daniel Webster parents that submitted their own redistricting plan to the School Committee prior to the public forum in January.

The couple has three children that would have been affected under the initial two redistricting options being considered, options A and B, which would have moved 296 and 253 children, respectively.

Coyle said she was glad the redistricting subcommittee had managed to come up with options C and D after the forum to accomplish redistricting goals while moving fewer children.

She added that the couple was “even more impressed” by the willingness of Superintendent of Schools Scott Borstel and the School Committee, “to listen to the community and implement some of our alternative plans.”

Eames Way parent Paul Nihill was not as pleased with the result. His 7-year-old son will be moved from Eames Way to South River under the final plan, while his daughter, currently in fifth grade, will not be affected.

Nihill said that when he and his wife were looking to move about six months ago, they relocated to the Telegraph Hill neighborhood to keep their children at Eames Way.

His criticism about the redistricting was more about the communication of the chosen plan – and what he said was a lack of a transition plan.

Page 2 of 3 - “On day one of after the decision, some of the older kids knew and told the younger kids. My son unfortunately had to hear it from the kids,” Nihill said. “He was upset.”

Nihill wondered why there was not a psychologist present to help children work through the emotion of the decision on the first day after it was made.

“They had the school psychologist there at the (public) forum and someone asked that question and they assured us there would be a psychologist to help the children with the transition and that there would be a plan,” Nihill said. “There wasn’t anyone explicitly available on day one.”

Nihill was upset that the chosen plan was not communicated to parents more quickly. He questioned why the superintendent did not do a ConnectEd call following the vote.

Borstel said that shortly before noon on Wednesday he sent a ConnectEd email to all the elementary parents to let them know the outcome of the vote and that transition information would be forthcoming. He emailed elementary staff members about the outcome as well.

“We reacted within 12 hours (of when the decision was made),” Borstel said.

Borstel said that it was a “conscious decision” of the administration not to address students as a whole about the redistricting in school.

“What we didn’t do, and this was a conscious decision, was talking to kids about moving from one school to another. It’s really a family conversation,” Borstel said. “We didn’t do full school conversations on Wednesday morning because we wanted to respect the rights of parents to be able to have that conversation.”

Certified school psychologists, who are always present at each of the elementary schools, were available for any student struggling with the news, Borstel said.

“There are psychologists in each of our five elementary schools that are there to support families if they are struggling,” Borstel said. “We didn’t think it was appropriate to have psychologists go into classrooms and draw attention to it.”

In terms of transition planning, Borstel said he had met with all of the elementary principals late last week to identify open house dates in March for families to visit their new school. Some principals have already provided individual tours of the new schools for families that have asked, he said.

He said there would be another open house in August once class assignments have been sent out.

Borstel said last week that more information would be forthcoming over the next few weeks, and that he had planned to send out a newsletter highlighting some of the transition plans this week.

Page 3 of 3 - Other groups working to make the transition as smooth as possible are the PTOs and PTAs of each elementary school.

Tammy Budd, the secretary of the South River PTA, said her group was meeting Tuesday night to discuss the transition ahead of a general meeting next week. New families are invited to the general meeting, she said.

“We’re really going to be focusing on making new families welcome and how to help the transition of our outgoing families into their new school,” Budd said, noting that it was important to start the process as soon as possible.

While Budd’s daughter – who will be going into second grade – will not be moving schools, she said she still felt the effects of losing “a lot of great families” that would be missed. Yet she said the school community would be, “gaining some great families, too.”

She also mentioned social media as a potentially useful way for redistricted families to connect with families at their new school to set up play dates and connect with each other.

“The intent is to make sure that the incoming families know immediately that they are welcome and that they are already considered part of our school community,” Budd said.